Niigata Beer

Niigata Beer has a philosophy: a truly delicious beer is one that can be enjoyed even at room temperature.

That is the common sense of major beer companies. Niigata Beer’s Ken Usami is someone who questioned exactly that. He graduated from Niigata University’s Faculty of Agriculture and worked for a foreign pharmaceutical company, but after being shocked by a handmade beer he tried one day, he quit his corporate job.

And he did it all on his own. He read everything he could find and spent four to five years arriving at a flavor he could truly accept. Founded in 1997 in Echizenhama, Nishikan Ward, Niigata City, it was the first in Japan to obtain a beer brewing license using bottle fermentation and bottle maturation.

They add live yeast just before bottling and seal it. Fermentation continues slowly inside the bottle, creating fine foam and deep umami. Another 특징 is that the flavor changes through aging like wine; the standard line can be stored for about six months, and the premium line for about two years.

Its flagship beer, Premium Ale Edinburgh, lets you enjoy a rich, deep malt flavor, while European Kolsch is crisp and refreshing. They also make Black Beer. This tiny brewery has produced more than 100 kinds of beer so far.

He himself says that a properly made beer can be recognized as soon as you drink it, and that it is not a relationship where the seller is above the buyer, but one where good products are offered at a fair price, on equal footing. That craftsmanship is on another level. They also export overseas and handle OEM production. It is a quietly impressive brewery.